Winogradsky column, Department of Biological Applications & Technology, Ioannina

Hello everyone,
I'm Any Athanasopoulou from university of Ioannina in Greece. I received the mixture of water and mud from the bank of Voidomatis river (Voidomatis bridge) on 10.23.2015. My column also contains enrichment substrates, such as pieces of paper, 1 egg with its shell and 1/2 sachet of baking powder. First I made a mixture of the river mud, the enrichment substrates and water and put it in the bottle with a funnel (in order to cover 1/3 of the plastic bottle ). Then I added extra mud till 2/3 of the bottle to be filled and finally I filled up with water. Since my column was ready, I put it in the attic of my house, close to a western window, so that it's exposed to sunlight and room temperature (average growth temperature 20^ο C). 

So far most of the water column is colored bright red probably by a large population of purple non-sulphur bacteria. I'm expecting growth inhibition of sample's psychrothropic bacteria, since the growth temperature is significantly higher than the river's cold water. At the expense of these is expected the developing of different varieties of bacteria, that are favored by this temperature change.

here is my bottle at the 8th week of the experiment:

and here is my bottle at the 13th week of the experiment:

where, we can see not only the red-brown colored water, but also a green zone developing at the upper layer of the column (probably cyanobacteria).

Marialena Kafritsa University of Ioannina
 Winogradsky column

Here I present my data from Voidomatis river (23^th October 2015) . In order to manufacture my Winogradsky column I used two bottles (1,5L). Both of my columns contain pieces of paper, 1 egg with its shell and baking powder. In one bottle I had extra sulfur source by adding vitamins. I use the column without the sulfur source as control in order to observe any changes with the addition of sulfur. Both of the columns are exposed to sunlight and room temperature.

This is the procedure I used to construct my winogradsky columns:
I took mud from the river and mixed it with my nutrients and placed into 1/3 of my bottle. In one bottle I added sulfur vitamin pills. The other 2/3 had mud without nutrients. Lastly in the rest of the bottle I added river water.

Here is a photo of the sulfur added bottle (day 1)

And here are my columns after 36 days
 (Right bottle is control and left bottle is the one with the added sulfur)

The sediment in both columns seems a little darker and the river water is starting to get a little greener because of phytoplakton photosynthesis. There are no noticeable differences between the two bottles yet. 

New experiment!

A new experiment started few weeks ago. Water+mud from Voidomatis river, NW Greece (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voidomatis). Let's see what we'll get from this low temperature river...Good luck!

Finally, after 5 months my column became colorful. I assume due to high temperature and more constant day light!

Top left: 15/1/2015
Top right and bottom: 27/6/2015

Winogradksy column

     Team 14 (Papaioannou Aristeidis- Papadopoulos Panagiotis)

Hello Winobloggers,

We are a two person team from university of Thessaly in Greece and we are doing an experiment with the Winogradsky column. The experiment took place in the area of Volos Anavros. We used:  one plastic bottle of 1.5l,  one plastic bottle of 0.5l, one egg and Some small paper pieces.  we left our columns in a light place and took some photos during the days of the experiment.

Day 1.

At the first day of our experiment we placed our column in a bright spot.

Day 4.

After 4 days we noticed some changes in the colour of the water. It became more yellow.

Day 47.

 The black color of the sediment  is caused by the presence of FeS from the anaerobic respiration.

Day 55

 We can see the black colour of the sediment in the whole bottle and the cloudy water because of the anaerobic conditions in the column.

Hello friends,

Winogradsky column by N. Xaxiri and P. Papageorgiou 

Our experiment contains sea water, sand, piec

es of paper and egg. We keep it in a darkness place.

  Day 1.At the first day

 Afterward,the color change into dark until it will become totally black with strange smell.

Winogradsky column

Hello friends,

Winogradsky column by C. Theochari and M. Zouroufidis

• Our samples were taken by Anauros (local beach of Volos, Greece) during our university field trip. We already had prepared the necessary tools:
•    1One plastic bottle of 1.5l

2  One plastic bottle of 0.5l

3 One egg

4  Some small paper pieces

We went there and we followed specific steps: 

Gather sea sediment  and make a hole in the middle

Put the paper and the egg inside, make a mixture

Put it inside the bottle (2/3 parts of the big bottle)

Finally, filled up with water.

Then we left it in a dark  place and took some photos during the days of the experiment.

                        Day 1.At the first day of our experiment we placed our column in a dark spot and sealed

15-20 th day:We noticed that the 3/4 of sediment became darker from the rest.

After 1 and a half month: Finally We have noticed that all the column has become black due to the presence of Fes in the sediment.

Fresh from the press

Hola a todos! Καλημέρα σε όλους!

I just found this paper!!!

Abbasian F, Lockington R, Mallavarapu M & Naidu R (2015) A pyrosequencing-based analysis of microbial diversity governed by ecological conditions in the Winogradsky column. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 31: 1115-1126.

ABSTRACT
The Winogradsky column is used as a microcosm to mimic both the microbial diversity and the ecological relationships between the organisms in lake sediments. In this study, a pyrosequencing approach was used to obtain a more complete list of the microbial organisms present in such columns and their ratios in different layers of this microcosm. Overall, 27 different phyla in these columns were detected in these columns, most (20 phyla) belonged to bacteria. Based on this study, Proteobacteria (mostly Sphingomonadales), Cyanobacteria (mostly Oscillatoriales) and Bacteroidetes (mostly Flavobacteriales) were the dominant microorganisms in the water, middle, and bottom layers of this column, respectively. Although the majority of organism in the water layer were photoautotrophic organisms, the ratio of the phototrophic organisms decreased in the lower layers, replaced by chemoheterotrophic bacteria. Furthermore, the proportion of aerobic chemoheterotrophic bacteria was greater in the higher layers of the column in comparison to the bottom. The green and purple sulfur phototrophic bacteria inhabited the bottom and middle of these columns, with none of them found in the water layer. Although the sulfur oxidizing bacteria were the dominant chemolithotrophic bacteria in the water layer, their ratio decreases in lower layers, being replaced with nitrogen oxidizing bacteria in the middle and bottom layers. Overall, the microbial population of these layers changes from a phototrophic and aerobic chemoheterotrophic organisms in the water layer to a mostly anaerobic chemoheterotrophic population of bacteria in the bottom layers.


http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11274-015-1861-y#

WINOGRARDSKY COLUMN (TEAM 18)

Team 18 Konstantina Danae Chalkia-Eirini Aggeliki Charoudi Hello Winobloggers, We are a two person team from university of Thessaly in Greece and we are doing an experiment with the Winogradsky column.The experiment took place in the area of Volos Anavros.We used 1 bottle(1,5 L) from which we removed the upper part, seawater (~500ml),1 egg ,pieces of newspaper and an amount of sediment from the beach of Anavros that covered the 1/4 of the bottle.

• FIRST DAY(18/3/2015)

At the first day of the experiment we placed the sealed bottle near to the window in order to be exposed to the sunlight.

• AFTER 2 WEEKS

At the bottom of the bottle started to apear small black spots due to the appearance of the FeS from the anaerobic processes which are taking place inside the column.The colour of the water hasn't changed.

• AFTER 4 WEEKS

The black spots have spreaded at the sediment but there has not been noticed turbidity in the water.

Lab report in Microbial Ecology:

Group: Maria -xristina Zerma, Dimosthenis Zairis

In this column Winogradsky, used sediment and egg and water from beach Anavros in Volos.

Day 1 :

During the first day , the column was sealed and placed in a bright place , at room conditions

Second week:

During the second week , an increase in turbidity of the water. The turbidity due to increased phytoplankton cells. 

As shown in the photo below shows a pale green color.

 
Third week

 
During the third week , the turbidity of the water was reduced significantly and the water surface formed plates.
 

 
 
Fourth week
 

After the fourth week, the precipitate gradually column acquired along the length of black simultaneously,
 the water column is also colored black.